Trading methods have evolved from a manually intensive process to a technology enabled, electronic platform. With the advent of electronic trading, a user or trader can be in virtually direct contact with the market, from practically anywhere in the world, performing near real-time transactions.
Electronic trading is generally based on a host exchange, one or more computer networks, and client devices. In general, the host exchange includes one or more centralized computers to form the electronic heart. Its operations typically include maintaining an exchange order book that records unexecuted orders, order matching, providing price and order fill information, and managing and updating a database that records such information. The host exchange is also equipped with an external interface that maintains uninterrupted contact to the client devices and possibly other trading-related systems.
Using client devices, traders link to the host exchange through one or more networks to trade tradeable objects. As used herein, the term “tradeable object” refers to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. It includes, but is not limited to, all types of traded events, goods and/or financial products, which can include, for example, stocks, options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds, derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types of commodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradeable object may be “real,” such as products that are listed by an exchange for trading, or “synthetic,” such as a combination of real products that is created by the user. A tradeable object could actually be a combination of other tradeable objects, such as a class of tradeable objects.
A network is a group of two or more computers or devices linked together in any fashion, which may be characterized by topology, protocol, and architecture. For example, some market participants may link to the host through a direct network connection such as a T1 or ISDN. Some participants may link to the host exchange through direct network connections and through other common network components such as high-speed servers, routers, and gateways that allow a trader to connect to an electronic exchange. The Internet, a well-known collection of networks and gateways, can be used to establish a connection between the client device and the host exchange. There are many different types of wired and wireless networks and combinations of network types known in the art that can link traders to the host exchange.
A client device may include computers such as personal computers, laptop computers, hand-held computers, and so forth that have network access. A client device usually consists of a personal computer, laptop, or workstation that has a Microsoft Windows-type or some other type of the operating system that provides a pointing device and a graphical interface based on windowed regions displayed on the screen. Currently, one of the most common pointing devices is a mouse that typically includes a wheel positioned between the left and right buttons. Other types of pointing devices may also be used such as keyboard cursors or trackballs, just to name a few. Regardless of the actual pointing device used, a cursor, also often referred to as a pointer, is displayed on a screen. In relation to graphical user interfaces, a cursor is a visible and moving object or pointer that a user may control with a mouse, touch pad, or a similar device. The relative movement of the on-screen cursor is controlled by the relative movement of the pointing device by the user. The user may use the pointing cursor and special input buttons to select a particular item displayed on a screen. Typically, a pointing cursor is an arrow and a text entry position cursor is a blinking underscore or a vertical bar. However, different cursor formats are used as well, and many operating systems allow a user to choose another appearance for the cursor. In a trading environment, a cursor, among other functions, may be used to highlight information, set order parameters, send orders, cancel orders, and so on.
In addition to typical uses of the cursor, some systems provide information cursors, often referred to as tool tip cursors. Tool tip cursors are mostly used in interactive computer environments where a user may receive a help message about an icon or yet some other object by positioning a pointer with a mouse on the computer's display over the icon about which the information is desired. For example, tool tip icons are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,809,720 and 5,287,448.
Considering that the use of a cursor to manipulate any window displayed on a screen is inevitable, it would be beneficial to provide additional uses for a cursor in electronic trading and other environments.